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Bulgaria, UK discuss strengthening of mutual trust

Xinhua, January 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov and his visiting British counterpart Philip Hammond met here on Wednesday to strengthen mutual trust and discuss the deepening of the integrations within EU and NATO.

"I want to emphasize that the most important conclusion of our meeting today is that we reconfirmed the high degree of trust between Bulgaria and the United Kingdom, and we committed to work even harder on issues of mutual interest," Mitov said at a joint press conference.

In turn, the British foreign secretary said the two states would work together to secure the European trajectory of countries in the Western Balkans, "which is in the interest of Bulgaria and Britain, and in the interest of the wider region for its stability and its economic prosperity."

Hammond said they also talked about the agenda of EU reform and the shared agenda in NATO, as well as the challenges in implementing the commitments made at the Wales summit last year to ensure that "NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense."

Hammond said his country and Bulgaria would work to safeguard NATO's continued relevance and effectiveness in the future.

The two countries could build NATO's strength and strengthen the transatlantic bond between European NATO members and the United States and Canada, he added.

Bulgaria, once a strong ally of the former Soviet Union, joined NATO and the EU in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Endit